Aid flows to Afghanistan, in drips

But the picture is more complex than that, says James Weatherill, a food-aid expert with the USAID program in Kabul. Food-for-work programs can serve the goals of rebuilding while also making sure that Afghan families have enough food, he says.

"If we provide food, these people won't have to go out and get a job somewhere else," Mr. Weatherill says. "If these people were off working someplace else, instead of cleaning that canal, they wouldn't have water for their fields next year. This food is helping them to create food for next year."

More than half of America's aid comes as bags of surplus wheat, much of it distributed through the UN's World Food Programme.

While some aid workers worry that food aid could hurt Afghan farmers – since Afghans are less likely to buy grain in the market if they can get it from the US for free – others worry that even aid money may not go where it's most needed.

Rents of houses and offices in Kabul have skyrocketed, as aid groups have flocked to Kabul by the hundreds. Salaries for qualified English-speaking Afghan office workers have also risen dramatically. "In the early stages, a lot of the money goes to rents and salaries and starting up an operation, and very little actually gets to the people who need it," says Mr. Cox, the Finance Ministry adviser. "The hope is that this will improve with time, as we buy goods and services here instead of importing [them] expensively from abroad. And as people become more skilled, we'll be able to employ more [Afghans]."

At Aschiana, an Afghan-run vocational program for street-working children in Kabul, some of the best-trained workers have already left for other programs. Aschiana has already had to move out of its main office in the now-fashionable district called Shar-e Naw, as its rent rose from $130 per month to $4,000 per month.

"Foreign aid groups should understand the needs of the people of Afghanistan," says Yusuf, director of Aschiana. "A lot of them come here and make their proposals and get their funding and spend the money, and it is not what the Afghan people need."

At the school in Mohammad Agha, west of Kabul, much of the work is going ahead without money from Kabul or aid agencies. More than 1,300 boys have enrolled in the school, compared with just 600 during Taliban times. In addition, more than 300 girls have enrolled in school for the first time in six years.

Some teachers have gone without salaries for months on end. One of the better-off teachers has donated his salary to pay rent on a nearby house, which has been converted into a girls' school.

Despite this willingness to rely on local resources and individual generosity, Vice Principal Abdullah Ilham says that many local Afghans are growing frustrated with the slow pace of aid. Until the American Red Cross packets arrived, the school had received no aid since 1994, when a Swedish charity delivered some desks and chairs, which have since fallen apart.

Villagers are watching now to see if the world's donor nations honor their promises and start delivering aid to rural districts like their own.

"The Russians came; we tested them, and they failed," says Mr. Ilham. "Now it is the time for the Americans to be tested. We hope we can remain helpful to the US in the war on terrorism, and we hope they will also help us."

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